


I've tried life without you, (it doesn't work)

by HogwartsToAlexandria



Series: Marie's Ironstrange Shorts 2019 [32]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Baby Peter Parker, Fluff, Ironstrange Haven Server Holiday Exchange, Kissing, M/M, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, break up to make up, single dad tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:26:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21954358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/pseuds/HogwartsToAlexandria
Summary: It's Christmas time, Tony's son needs medicine, and a chance encounter opens up both old and new possibilities.Ironstrange Haven Server Holiday Exchange
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Marie's Ironstrange Shorts 2019 [32]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1649581
Comments: 5
Kudos: 156
Collections: IronStrange Secret Santa 2019





	I've tried life without you, (it doesn't work)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lazykinks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazykinks/gifts).



> Merry Christmas if you celebrate it! Happy holidays anyway! 😘

"S'okay love, we'll go home soon, promise, soon" Tony whispered in Peter's curls, adjusting the baby carrier but keeping a hand on his son's back as he waded through the mass of people waiting in line. He was getting out of the third pharmacy he'd tried only to once more be told they didn't have what he needed and Peter was getting fussier and fussier with each step they took together. 

He pushed the door open and started stepping into the hall that would lead him out when he saw it. The downpour outside. 

" _ Fuck. _ " 

"Ffffff," Peter mimicked him. 

"Oh, nope, baby, nope, bad word."

"Fffffffffff," Peter puffed his cheeks at him, his glassy eyes still lit up with mirth and Tony couldn't help the way his arms tightened around him. His baby boy was sick and those damn pharmacies weren't delivering the way they should, and now the rain. 

Christmas time uh. 

"We need to find something to cover ourselves, Pete, no way we're walking out there like this." 

He'd done the most of the clothes he did have for Peter but having a baby dropped on your lap in August didn't make you a superparent and, more importantly, also meant Peter's wintry wardrobe was less than furnished as of yet. He walked closer to the doors, trying to gauge if the rain was anywhere near stopping but one, it didn't look like it and two, he stopped paying attention to the people around long enough to bump into someone, hard. 

"Fuck fuck fuck." Tony's shoulder hurt like a bitch and his eyes immediately went to Peter, who thankfully was still watching him with his big brown eyes, feverish but free of tears. Only then did Tony turn around to look for the person who he'd run into, ready to yell and...

"Stephen?"

"Tony?" 

"Well, damn," Tony looked the man over, up and down and into the white patches of hair at his temples. Stephen Strange. 

"You look good."

"Sorry for bumping into… oh, well… thank you. You too. Is that… is he yours?" Stephen's eyes looked hesitant, and so did his face and stance but Tony smiled, nodding in answer. 

"Yes, Peter," he said, one of his hands reflexively going to pet the baby's hair gently, "he's sick, been trying to get him some meds but Christmas is hell for pharmacy stocks apparently."

"Oh? Maybe I can help with that?" Stephen took a step closer before stopping in his tracks, biting his lip, "Doctor remember? I mean, if you have time to get to my place, I'm sure his mom must be waiting." 

Tony laughed at that, a tired, but not humorless laugh. He looked from Peter to Stephen before squaring his shoulders a bit, the way he'd done every time he'd had to tell someone new. 

"It's just us two though, no mom in that picture. And yeah. I remember fine." He said, his eyes flashing a bit when he got to that last part.

His defensive posture proved useless though. Stephen's response was to blush, albeit faintly, and ask, "Really?" With an air of saying so much more than that, a hint of something Tony had forgotten happened whenever this man was in his life - a single batting of butterfly wings somewhere between his heart and stomach. 

Peter coughed just as Tony was going to answer. 

"Damn. Sorry baby, not forgetting you," Tony put the back of his hand on Peter's forehead briefly before rubbing his boy's back and glancing back at Stephen. "You live far?" 

"Only two blocks out." Stephen shook his head, "and I have this." He lifted his left hand, and the umbrella he was holding. 

"Oh thank fuck." 

* * *

As unexpected and pleasant as it was to see Stephen again after three years of radio silence, it was also highly confusing, and something Tony's life didn't allow him to dwell on right then. In the three days that followed their fortunate encounter at the mall and Stephen's subsequent life-saving - thank God for freakish doctors who keep plant-based medicines handy for intolerant babies - Tony had to figure out daycare, and Pepper's new contract, and deal with the angry board and rework the pattern of the new stem-cell coding and… 

And Stephen's cryptic text at 1am the third night was both a breath of fresh air, and the most mind-wrecking event of them all. Chaotic life calling chaotic changes? Perhaps. He didn't know. But the way the cursor blinked at him as he tried to find words to reply to Stephen was bothering him more than the fact that he was still awake on a Tuesday night at 1am when Peter was finally better and sleeping soundly in his own room. 

_ "Would you mind very much if I came up to your place, to talk?"  _

Tony didn't fucking know. He also didn't know what Stephen would want to talk about, he didn't know if he wanted to give him his address either even though he  _ had _ been at Stephen's barely 72 hours prior. He didn't know anything, anymore. 

_ "200 Park Avenue, 22nd floor."  _

He clicked send when thinking about it became too much of a headache and threw the covers off him to get out of bed and wait for the man. He got some coffee brewing and leaned on the counter looking out the window. The frown on his face was still there when the elevator beeped and the door opened to reveal Stephen. They looked at each other for a bit, the amount of Tony's thoughts that had been turned towards Stephen in the last few days finally dawning on him. 

"What are you doing here Stephen?" Tony's voice came out like a whisper and somehow, it was enough to make the other man flinch a bit. 

Stephen walked closer without saying anything, watching Tony's face the whole way until he stopped, just at the edge of the counter, and rubbed his face, and sighed and looked into Tony's eyes again. 

"I'm an idiot?" His eyes were pleading even in the low light, his shoulders hanging defeatedly and Tony's heart roared. 

"You are?" He asked, holding onto any proper reaction until Stephen made himself clearer, until he really  _ said it _ .

"I…" Stephen frowned, "I've been with exactly two people since… you. And it was a disaster." 

"And you've come all the way here, at this hour, to tell me that? Not sure I really n--"

"No, I've come all the way here, at this hour, to tell you that you're why I can't possibly date anyone else? To tell you that I've grown since we split up, to tell you that seeing you in that  _ mall _ was the best thing that happened to me in three years?" 

"I don't know what to say to that Stephen…" Tony said, right away before taking a deep breath in. "Fuck's sake I don't have time for this, ok? I have Pete now, I have SI still, and no time,  _ no, time. _ " He didn't realize he was walking closer to Stephen until his waving hand hit the man's chest, and he looked up, their size difference registering clear as day in the way he had to tilt his chin up to look him in the eye, and he stopped talking, just stared. 

Stephen's hand was shaking when he put it on Tony's cheek, caressing the bump of his cheekbone before sweeping down his neck. Their gazes did back-and-forths between their eyes and mouths. 

"Fuck it." 

Tony put his own hands on either side of Stephen's neck, rose on his tiptoes, and let their mouths meet again, for the first time in over 36 months. It felt like they'd done this yesterday. It felt like they were doing this for the first time. A breath of fresh air and cool water pouring down his neck, a rain shower that had Tony's stomach buzzing warmth and his lips parting on a gasp that only invited further kissing. 

Neither man fooled themselves into thinking their past issues were solved, or that it would be all bright and pretty from there on out, but the way Stephen's arms wound around his waist and his own clutched at the man's shoulders felt right. And on a Tuesday at 1am, exhausted from sick-baby-daddy duties and a very long, nerve-wracking on call day at the hospital, it was enough for them both. 


End file.
